Ashwini Vaishnaw on Andhra train collision: 'Driver was watching cricket on phone'

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday revealed that the driver and the assistant driver of one of the two passenger trains that collided in Andhra Pradesh, leading to the death of 14 passengers on October 29, 2023, were watching a cricket match on the phone. 

The Rayagada Passenger train hit the Visakhapatnam Palasa train from behind at 7 pm that day on the Howrah-Chennai line in Kantakapalli in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. 

"The recent case in Andhra Pradesh happened because both the loco pilot and co-pilot were distracted by the cricket match which was going on. Now we are installing systems which can detect any such distraction and make sure that the pilots and the assistant pilots are fully focussed on running the train," Vaishnaw told PTI.

"We will continue to put our focus on safety. We try to find out the root cause of every incident and we come up with a solution so that it is not repeated," the minister added. 

A day after the accident, a preliminary railway probe held the driver and the assistant driver of the passenger train responsible for the collision as it passed two defective auto signals violating norms. The probe report conducted by the Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRS) is yet to be made public.

Both crew members were killed in the accident.

(With inputs from PTI)